On Tuesday, July 1, the Criminal Records Bureau announced that the cost of ''vetting'' teachers would double.

Dan Kendrick looks at why a service that has consistently failed Worcestershire's schools is being rewarded with more money.

THE Government's policy for education funding has been slowly strangling the county council this year, and a recent announcement has further tightened the noose.

In March 2002, the Criminal Records Bureau took over the ''disclosure'' service - a system that checks people's backgrounds to ensure they are fit for employment - from West Mercia Constabulary.

The crucial investigations are carried out into anybody applying to work with young people, especially in the teaching profession.

After 15 months, Worcestershire's education chiefs branded the CRB's service, which is £100,000 more expensive, "absolutely rubbish".

But at the beginning of this month, the bureau doubled the cost of each teacher, classroom assistant and member of school staff checked, from £12 to £24.

"We used to run the checks with the police on anyone applying for teaching positions, or working with young people, and it was fantastic," said Julien Kramer, the director of education.

"We used to be able to do it at a fraction of the cost and we used to get through around 15,000 applications a year - far more than the CRB are currently doing.

"Frankly, the service forced upon us in the last year or so has been absolutely rubbish and the fees they are charging are outrageous. On top of our education settlement this is very disappointing for the county."

Before disclosures were put out for ''tender'' - won by Capita for the CRB - Worcestershire's directorate of education received the service from the police at no direct cost.

While the council did accept the small indirect costs of staffing and administration, the police processed more applications, both quicker and cheaper.

And though this month's hike in fees is a national increase affecting all LEAs, it has exacerbated Worcestershire's already dire financial settlement.

The extra costs will not be passed straight on to county schools - as they have already decided their 2003/04 budgets - but the money will have an impact on next year's funding.

Sue Baker-Williams, county council human resources manager, has written to Worcestershire's schools confirming the new situation.

"We have already written to the CRB making very strong representations about this exorbitant increase on top of an already expensive and very poor service," she said.

"It is a frankly obscene hike in fees and we are outraged it comes just three months into the new financial year."

And Bridget Clark, the county council's employee relations manager, said the 100 per cent price rise would hit Worcestershire's education funding hard.

"Our estimated additional costs are £80,000 per annum across the authority," she said. "This will have to be found from our existing resources, which in turn will have an impact on our ability to deliver other services to the community."

The CRB, which was fined £2m for its poor service delivery, has blamed the ''teething problems'' of the last year on a number of factors, such as:

n Higher than expected demand for disclosures.

n A large proportion of the disclosures being ''enhanced'' - or more in-depth - checks.

n A higher than anticipated number of forms being returned for corrections, creating extra administrative work.

However, the CRB does admit its own error in setting the price for its background-checking services.

"The current fees were set before the service was fully designed and developed, and it is clear now that the fee level was set unrealistically low when considering the complexity of the disclosure system," said John O'Brien, the bureau's director.

However, while prices have increased, the CRB's performance targets have dropped, as they claim "overly optimistic" goals had raised LEA's expectations above realistic levels.

But, in a letter written last month, Bridget Clark disregarded the CRB's justifications for the rise, saying schools should not be punished if poor business strategy was to blame.

"Capita, who had full access to the specification of the contract and who are a major business, bid for and were awarded the contract," she said.

"If the fees were set unrealistically low then that was a business decision for which Capita and the CRB must accept responsibility.

''Surely it would be normal practice for the service provider to bear both deficits and profits."

Nationally, the decision to raise the price of the service has also come under fire, with David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, outraged.

"The CRB's past failures are being significantly rewarded. This is a crazy situation that adds insult to injury in the eyes of headteachers whose schools have suffered and whose budgets are under extreme pressure," he said.

After Charles Clarke's promise to learn from this year's education funding fiasco, there appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel for cash-strapped county schools.

But the CRB's announcement has given Worcestershire's teachers yet more problems to contemplate over the summer holidays.